This invention relates to a process for the manufacture of institutional towels with the resulting towel having a much longer life expectancy.
It is well known to manufacture towels in a process utilizing yarn spun from 100% cotton fibers. In manufacturing such a towel, the yarn is woven, as is well known, on a loom with the 100% cotton yarn being contained in the ground, fill, and pile yarns. In fact it is the 100% cotton aspect of the towel that makes it more xe2x80x9cdesirablexe2x80x9d by the consumer since it is fixed in the mind of the purchaser that 100% cotton towels are more absorbent than other types of towels. However, when considering an institutional towel there are many drawbacks to providing 100% cotton spun yarns woven into towels since there are other issues which must be considered, which from an institutional standpoint creates disadvantages to the institution, for example a hotel chain. A hotel providing towels is a cost of doing business, thus any reductions in the cost of providing towels goes straight to the bottom line. However, cost reductions are not acceptable if customer satisfaction is sacrificed.
In manufacturing a typical towel through a continuous process, the towel is woven from the yarns accumulated on beams with the output from the loom being a continuous web of interconnected toweling product which must be bleached to remove any materials applied during the slashing process including a washing step. The toweling products that are desired to be a colour (other than a white colour) are subsequently dyed through a cold pad batch or beck dying process, washed and finally dried, then separated and finished into towels, or other terry products.
The output therefore from the process herein described includes terry products of various colours including white and other shades. For a towel or a terry product for the retail market, the consumer is quite content to wash the dyed towels without bleaching and to apply a fabric softener either in the wash or in the dryer.
However, with institutional towels the concern for the life expectancy of the towel and the sanitation of the product are very important. All institutional towels are washed with bleach time after time and as a result it can be expected that the dyed products will fade after as little as ten washings with the colour being substantially gone after twenty washings. Even with these results some hotels use dyed towels, but most feel that the fading and xe2x80x9ccolour matchingxe2x80x9d problems are not acceptable. As a rule most institutional towels are white. (Our process also enhances the ability of white products to withstand the rigors of institutional laundries and its colour retention is improved. All cotton products will become dingy over a period of time.) Over the years, most of the major hotel chains have experimented with dyed towels, in fashionable colours. Many have tried on several occasions. The outcome was a mandate by some Corporate offices to halt all use of other coloured towels and to use only white towels. Our product will have to overcome such mandates, prejudices and widely held conceptions that it is impossible to provide a coloured towel that will maintain its colourfastness.
It is known in the patent literature to provide a towel construction wherein it is suggested that yarns for ground fill, ground warp and the pile warp, although preferably being made of cotton, may also be manufactured from yarns made of blends of cotton and polyester. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,400 describes this alternative. It is also discussed within U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,400 that a checkered patent may be provided in the terry cloth by utilizing different colour yarns. There is no discussion however as to how the yarns might be manufactured and coloured. We are also aware of other constructions for towels, for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,273 discusses in the Background of the Invention a preference of cotton and alternatively that synthetic fibers may be blended with the cotton fibers. Rayon yarns are also discussed in relation to their absorbency in that the rayon may be woven into the towel in the form of a 3-pick terry weave. U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,272 discusses that terry yarns have been formed of shrinkable synthetic fibers blended with cellulosic fibers, such as cotton. U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,274 teaches a woven terry towel wherein the ground warp and/or the filling yarns are composed of a blend of polyester and cellulosic fibers, but the terry pile is manufactured from 100% cotton. Within the reference it is stated that polyester has been heretofore considered an undesirable fiber for use in terry towels due to its low moisture absorbency characteristics. In fact, U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,272 issued May 16, 2000 teaches an all cotton pile with polyester being in the ground fabric. The pile yarns although desirably all cotton may include small quantities of other fibers such as polyester or rayon which would result in a corresponding decrease in the absorbency of the finished towel product. Specifically in the examples various compositions are described.
However, in spite of the general discussions in the above-mentioned patent literature there is no discussion of the present problems facing the institutions which purchase institutional towels. In none of the above patents, is colourfastness or longer life mentioned.
Our unique product provides many benefits to institutional towel users. However our principal objective is to provide a towel that will exceed current experience and expectations by providing a towel which will both (i) retain its colour and (ii) yield longer life expectancy, even when harsh chemicals are used in the laundering process.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an institutional towel and related toweling product which is the result of a manufacturing process resulting in minimum variation from batch to batch of the final product colour.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an institutional towel ensemble {i.e. all sizes} which includes a matching set of toweling products having very little colour variation from item to item in the ensemble.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a process of manufacturing an institutional towel which eliminates the need to dye the towel at the towel mill and thus eliminates the effluent waters created when dyeing product.
Further and other objects of the invention may become apparent to those skilled in the art when considering the following summary of the invention and a more detailed description of the preferred embodiments illustrated herein.
In the following definitions of various aspects of the invention colour is defined as any possible colour shade including various shades of white. Polyester has a raw colour of grey.
According to a primary aspect of the invention there is provided a process for manufacturing institutional terry/toweling products comprising the steps of:
1. providing cotton fibers;
2. providing pre-dyed polyester fibers;
3. orienting the fibers of the cotton in substantially a uniform parallel direction by carding;
4. orienting the pre-dyed polyester fibers in substantially parallel direction by a carding process;
5. draw blending the cotton and pre-dyed polyester fibers in a slivering process, in one embodiment in a ratio of 8 to 14% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in another embodiment in a ratio of less than or equal to about 5% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in yet another embodiment in a ratio of less than or equal to about 8% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in yet another embodiment in a ratio of about 25-35% and preferably less than or equal to about 30% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in another embodiment in a ratio of about 45-55% and preferably less than or equal to about 50% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber;
6. following the intimate draw blending of the pre-dyed polyester and cotton fibers spinning the slivered fibers into twisted yarns having a pre-determined colour which will be imparted to the toweling product;
7. accumulating the yarns on a loom beam following warping/slashing the yarns in preparation for the weaving process;
8. weaving said coloured yarn into the ground warp, the fill and the pile warp yarns in the toweling product which preferably is a continuous process;
9. preferably bleaching and subsequently washing and drying said toweling product prior to finishing;
wherein the colour in the product is obtained by the weaving process only (by using coloured yarns) with no subsequent dying process being necessary and wherein the resulting products have:
i) a minimum colour variation from batch to batch,
ii) are colour fast, the colour being imparted to the product by the pre-dyed polyester fiber allowing all products resulting from this process to be able to be washed and handled together,
iii) a significantly longer life expectancy of the product imparted by the polyester fiber, and
iv) the ability of the product to be manufactured into a matching set having minimum colour variation from product to product.
In order to obtain the benefits of the higher percentage of polyester (ie: {fraction (50/50)} mats, etc.) we utilize a blend of 2 different colours of pre-dyed polyester to be certain the colour matches the other pieces of the ensemble. For instance the ensemble may be the Ecru colour. The bath towel may be 14% brown polyester. The tub mat may be overall about 45-55% and preferably less than or equal to about 50% overall polyester, but we will still use for example 14% brown and 36% white polyester to maintain the proper colour matching. The different parts of ensemble have different absorbency requirements thus the polyester % may change from one to the other.
The resulting product from this process overcomes all of the deficiencies and problems experienced in the institutional towel industry with dyed terry products, and makes available a new opportunity for hotels not to be forced into xe2x80x9cwhite only.xe2x80x9d This process also improves the white products, by providing longer life and improved colour retention.
The colour in our institutional terry/toweling products has been imparted to them by spinning yarns of a drawn blend of pre-dyed polyester fibers and natural cotton fibers. The resulting product therefore is many times more colourfast as compared to those dyed in conventional manners. Typically as discussed in the background section above, towels would usually xe2x80x9csurvivexe2x80x9d only approximately twenty washes before one might expect the colour to be significantly altered. The experimental towels originally produced utilizing the invention did not fade and retained their colour through 150 wash cycles.
Since filing our first co-pending application and the introduction of Fibertone products, we have found other beneficial characteristics that stem from Fibertone""s unique construction. These benefits are not obtained by simply increasing the level of polyester in the product, but by the strategic placement of the increased polyester, as we have set forth in this disclosure. The success of Fibertone in commercial use and test results have started to dispel commonly held beliefs or theories of market acceptance regarding xe2x80x9chow a towel must be constructedxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cwhat is acceptable.xe2x80x9d This has prompted us to expand the boundaries we previously set in our original Patent Application.
Heavier Towels
Recently, we have seen a demand for larger and heavier towels. This market trend is not a result of the smaller and/or lighter towel""s inability to absorb the desired volume of water, but is the result of an effort to market an image in a customer""s mind linking xe2x80x9cbig and heavyxe2x80x9d with a higher quality product reflecting on the class of the institutional establishment.
Since additional absorbency is not the primary objective of increasing the size/weight of the product, we have chosen to add the desired weight to the heavier product by including additional polyester (about 25-35% and preferably less than or equal to about 30%) as opposed to cotton {which normally would be favored if one were attempting to increase absorbency}. When our method of towel construction set out above is carried out to add the polyester all of the benefits described in our co-pending Patent Application are realized including:
Dramatic decreases in linting.
Reductions in laundry cost (mainly in drying).
Greater longevity.
All of these benefits are even more dramatic with increased levels of polyester.
Tub Mats
Tub mats have always represented a handling problem in a laundry system. Their typical heavier weight construction results in the mats do not dry in the same time as the toweling. Therefore they must be sorted at the end of a drying cycle and run through another cycle. We have varied the polyester percentage in the yarns up to about 45-55% and preferably less than or equal to about 50% for tub mats in an effort to equalize drying times and institutional customers are very pleased with the results. Equalizing the drying time removes a major problem for their laundries. This market sector is not as sensitive to the loss in absorbency of a tub mat as a result of decreasing the amount of cotton in the mat as has been past experience with towels; since a mats primary function is to catch water from the body dropped onto the floor as opposed to actually drying the body. Higher polyester percentages in mats are therefore are more readily accepted by the market since the product is not handled to the same extent as a towel.
Low Lint Towels
For some of our current toweling product ensembles, we have been varying the polyester percentages to up to about 25-35% and preferably less than or equal to about 30%. One of our distributors has been quite enthusiastic about the higher polyester content toweling products that he requested exclusive rights to this product for specific markets. The product benefits and the associated reduction in risk of fire in the laundry has been very well received in the healthcare and cruise line industries among others and their particular desire to reduce the lint generated from cotton fibers breaking away from a toweling products.
100% Cotton Towels
We have discovered in spite of our best efforts that there are buyers, regardless of our products benefits, that are not willing to change from a 100% cotton towel ensemble. It is their position that the 100% cotton product provides an image of superior performance and high quality in the minds of their customers. Therefore they do not purchase anything other than 100% cotton products.
However, these very same customers desire the colourfastness achieved with FibertoneTM products. We were not successful initially, as of about December 2000, in obtaining even shades of colour when using polyester percentages below 8%. With selected colours, we have been able to produce a good quality of colour with less than or equal to about 8% polyester. We are now manufacturing a towel with less than or equal to about 5% xe2x80x9csolution dyed polyesterxe2x80x9d. There are no basic benefits to this product, other than colourfastness. Since the polyester serves as no enhancement to the towel, other than colour, it is considered xe2x80x9cornamentation.xe2x80x9d Thus the product can be labeled as 100% cotton, according to the labeling laws, and will meet the needs of this group of customers. The label reads xe2x80x9c100% cotton (exclusive of 5% polyester ornamentation)xe2x80x9d.
Institutional terry/toweling products described herein may be for example institutional towels, whether hand, bath, face, wash cloth or the like, tub mats, heavier towels, or xe2x80x9c100%xe2x80x9d cotton toweling as described above.
According to yet another aspect of the invention there is provided an institutional terry/toweling product for example those described above (and preferably manufactured from the above-mentioned process) which comprises coloured yarns draw blended of a pre-determined amount of pre-dyed polyester fiber (as set out above) with the remainder being natural cotton fibers resulting in a yarn of pre-determined colour, said product having ground warp, fill, and terry loop fibers manufactured from said yarn resulting in said product having a pre-determined colour which is colour fast, has little variance from lot to lot, may be washed and bleached, is conveniently handled by an institution, has an increased life expectancy imparted by the polyester, and which has reproducible colour of the finished product from batch to batch.
It is therefore expected that other colours other than a vanilla (ecru) colour obtained with the 14% brown pre-dyed polyester fiber may also be manufactured. Pastel shades of blue, red, green or the like may be manufactured in the form of an institutional product which is superior when compared to known institutional towels of all cotton construction in terms of convenience and handling through the washing and bleaching cycles with the resulting increase in life expectancy while maintaining its colour and luster. The colour is reproducible from batch to batch and from product to product so that complete bath ensembles can be provided to the institution with matching colours from the face cloth, the bath towel and the hand towel and the bath mats.
According to yet another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of colouring an institutional terry/toweling product comprising weaving said product from twisted yarn spun from an intimate, drawn blend of a predetermined amount of pre-dyed polyester fiber, (preferably in the range of 8-14%, with the balance being cotton fiber, in another embodiment in a ratio of less than or equal to about 5% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in yet another embodiment in a ratio of less than or equal to about 8% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in yet another embodiment in a ratio of about 25-35% and preferably less than or equal to about 30% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in another embodiment in a ratio of about 45-55% and preferably less than or equal to about 50% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber) said coloured yarn thereafter being spun from said drawn blend and all of said ground yarns, fill yarns and pile yarns making up said product being formed from said drawn blended twisted coloured yarn to form said product which has the properties of: 1) being colourfast; 2) being consistent in colour from batch to batch; 3) being consistent in colour from product type to product type, for example, for a bath towel, face towel, wash cloth, bath robe or bath mat; 4) being capable of being bleached and washed without fading or loosing it""s luster; and 5) having an extended life expectancy.
According to yet another aspect of the invention there is provided an institutional terry/toweling product, preferably manufactured from the above method, comprising twisted yarn spun from an intimate, drawn blend of a predetermined amount of pre-dyed polyester fiber, (preferably in the range of 8-14%, in another embodiment in a ratio of less than or equal to about 5% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in yet another embodiment in a ratio of less than or equal to about 8% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in yet another embodiment in a ratio of about 25-35% and preferably less than or equal to about 30% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in another embodiment in a ratio of about 45-55% and preferably less than or equal to about 50% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber), said coloured yarn thereafter being spun from said drawn blend and all of said ground yarns, fill yarns and pile yarns making up said product being formed from said drawn blended twisted coloured yarn to form said product which has the properties of: 1) being colourfast; 2) being consistent in colour from batch to batch; 3) being consistent in colour from product type to product type, for example, for a bath towel, hand towel, wash cloth, bath robe, or bath mat; 4) being capable of being bleached and washed without fading or loosing it""s luster; and 5) having an extended life expectancy.
The aspect of providing a colour within an institutional product is a considerable improvement for the hotel industry which no longer will be required to supply only white products or run the risk of having considerable expense if coloured products are selected. By providing a product made by the above-mentioned method any pastel shade can be manufactured including vanilla, pink, light blue, light green, grey and any other pastel type of shade without sacrificing a great deal of absorbency in the product. It is considered that the advantages of such an institutional product or for that matter a coloured towel in the retail trade are more than offset by the minimal loss in absorbency.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a coloured institutional terry/toweling product comprising ground warp, fill, and pile warped yarns, all of said yarns being coloured by intimately draw blending a predetermined amount of pre-dyed polyester fiber with cotton fiber when the yarn is spun and twisted to thereby form a predetermined colour for the institutional product. Preferably said predetermined amount of pre-dyed polyester fiber in one embodiment being in the range of 8-14%, in another embodiment in a ratio of less than or equal to about 5% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in yet another embodiment in a ratio of less than or equal to about 8% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in yet another embodiment in a ratio of about 25-35% and preferably less than or equal to about 30% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber; in another embodiment in a ratio of about 45-55% and preferably less than or equal to about 50% of the pre-dyed polyester fibers with the balance being the cotton fiber.
For a preferred vanilla towel the twisted yarn includes a predetermined amount of predyed polyester fiber having a predetermined denier, and tenacity and fiber length. No limitations however to these variables is contemplated for use in the institutional towel. For the vanilla towel the predyed polyester fiber has a beige colour but as discussed it may have a different colour depending on the shade of towel desired. The colour of the predyed polyester is established by trial and error, and specified by a matching comparison with a coloured swatch. The predyed polyester/cotton draw blended twisted yarn is manufactured with a predetermined twist (turns per inch) in the yarn. The ground and fill yarns may or may not have substantially the same twist as the pile yarns although they are of course of the same colour.